The funniest thing Tracy Ullman ever did?

Would it be wrong to suggest that the two week ‘resting’ of The Chaser’s War on Everything and its replacement with Tracey Ullman's State of the Union, confirms that the funniest thing Tracy Ullman ever did for television was commissioning The Simpsons shorts back in 1987?

Tags:
Canberra, The Chaser’s War on Everything,Tracey Ullman's State of the Union, The Simpsons shorts.

Duthie first casualty of war on everything (Ver 2)

The ABC's Amanda Duthie has been removed from her position as head of TV comedy because of the controversy surrounding The Chaser's Make a Realistic Wish sketch. The announcement was made by the Corporation's always reasonable managing director Mark Scott. Report is here. Duthie will continue to be responsible for arts and entertainment programs.

I made a comment at the ABC news site, in my best non-Angry of Mayfair* voice, querying why, given the program's history of offending the permanently sensitive, head of content Courtney Gibson hadn't run the rule over the episode (or for that matter Kim Dalton, but I'm guessing he had his hands full, automating another newsroom or outsourcing ABC editorial to Pagemasters or some such).

...At which point, after bashing out those hastily arranged electrons, I left this post yesterday . Couple of more things that I didn't originally make clear. Given my views on the skit and the complaints about it, the fact someone needs to be found responsible and punished seems vaguely ludicrous. However, changing Duthie's job title is not so much a punishment but a fairly shallow attempt at being seen to do something. I suspect it has less to do with the public outcry and more to do with boardroom pressure. Dicking with Duthie's job title is also a bad move because it sets a precedent.

Last year Duthie and Gibson were interviewed by Greg Callaghan of The Australian for an article entitled The Power of Two. Towards the end of the article Callaghan quoted Gibson:

Does it bother Gibson and Duthie when popular shows such as Kath & Kim – shows that have been carefully nurtured by the ABC – sell out to the commercial networks? Or scare them when rumours fly, as they did last year, about The Chaser meeting Seven Network brass? “We were probably ready to let Kath & Kim go,” Gibson concedes. “I would be very sorry to lose The Chaser, as it would almost certainly mean they would have to make creative compromises to fit in with the rules of a commercial network.”

It seems to fit in with the ABC there are now similar creative compromises to be made. And I'm just foolish enough to think this is not such a good thing.



*although I did end with the line that Gibson, Dalton and Scott seem to have mastered the first and most important rule of management: 'cover your arse'. Will try better next time.

Tags:
Canberra, The Chaser's War on Everything,Make a Realistic Wish FoundationAmanda Duthie,Courtney Gibson, Kim Dalton.

Making a realistic wish about The Chaser

I watched The Chaser’s War on Everything on Wednesday night and found the skit on the Make a Realistic Wish Foundation funny.

The line “they're only going to die anyway” cracked me up.

Obviously, many other people don’t share this view. They are entitled to this opinion, as I am to mine.

Mind you, a couple of points do occur.

If a comedy show you intend to watch has a classification warning at the start, then there’s a chance it may contain material that you will find offensive.

If the comedy show you intend to watch has a solid, well-known reputation for bad taste and black comedy, then the chances of you being offended goes up accordingly.

If the comedy show you intend to watch is called The Chaser’s War on Everything don’t be too surprised if it has a go at... everything.

And if a child of mine had a terminal or life threatening illness, I’m guessing there might be other things to do, rather than taking such bitter offense about a one minute TV segment that the combined reaction of thousands of viewers having a hissy fit becomes a media circus and prolongs that same offense over the course of several days.

Finally, as to the idea that some topics are just too serious, too sensitive or too important, and therefore must never be used as the basis for comedy, I’ll hand over to PJ O’Rourke (who admittedly was writing in the mid-eighties about the left versus right but it does go to a certain mindset on humour).

He explains in the intro to Republican Party Reptile that some people, for example those who are deeply concerned about sexism in language or fear the government is hiding nuclear waste in their fridge, can’t be expected to have a sense of humour.

And they don’t. Radicals and liberals and such want all jokes to have a “meaning,” to “make a point”. But laughter is involuntary and points are not. A conservative may tell you that you shouldn’t make fun of something. “You shouldn’t make fun of cripples,” he may say. And he may be right. But a liberal will tell you, “You can’t make fun of cripples.” And he’s wrong - as anybody who’s heard the one about Helen Keller falling into a well and breaking three fingers calling for help can tell you.”

To quote another funny man, who spent time in the comedy bad taste trenches, "Oh, you're going straight to hell for that one."

Tags:
Canberra, The Chaser's War on Everything,Make a Realistic Wish Foundation, PJ O’Rourke.